Russian Ban Could Hit Pig Prices

RUSSIA - Russia has turned down a proposal by the European Commission to exclude pig meat export certificates for the six regions of Lithuania most at risk from African swine fever.

Moscow told the Commission last week that its ban on pig meat imports from anywhere in the European Union stays in force.

Nearly a quarter of European pigmeat exports go to the Russian market, worth over £1 billion, so Brussels is keen to see the situation resolved as soon as possible.

So are British pig-keepers, as an annual 700,000 tonnes of European Union pigmeat remaining on the domestic European market will inevitably impact on producer prices.

Russia said yesterday it cannot accept the regionalisation system proposed by Brussels as it "cannot trust" European Union statistics on wild boar, African swine fever and serological testing.

Health commissioner Tonio Borg has slated Russia's decision to suspend trade in pigs and pigmeat from the European Union as "disproportionate". He said he regretted Moscow's failure to recognise Europe's regionalisation system, which has been in place since Monday.